Mexico's former president doubled down on his expletive-filled rebuke about Donald Trump
Days after apologizing for his expletive-laden rebuke of Donald Trump's border-wall plan, former Mexican President Vicente Fox had another searing tirade on the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
"I'm not going to pay for the f------ wall," Fox said on an episode of the Kickass Politics podcast released Tuesday.
"And please don't take out the f------ full word," he added.
In interviews in late February, Fox said he would not pay for Trump's "f------ wall." But a little more than a month later, he expressed contrition, apologizing during an interview with Breitbart News.
"You have to be humble. You have to be compassionate. You have to love thy neighbor. ... If I offended you, I'm sorry," he said.
In the podcast interview released Tuesday, Fox added to his comments, calling Trump the "hated gringo" and an "ugly American" and comparing him to polarizing Latin American leaders like Hugo Chavez and Juan Peron.
The former Mexican president - who will debut a weekly prime-time talk show on Mexican television in June - also appeared to respond to Trump's suggestion that as president he would halt remittance flows to Mexico to fund his border plans.
"Don't play around with us. We can jump walls, we can swim rivers, and we can defend ourselves," Fox said, suggesting that Mexico could limit remittances and money transfers flowing north from US corporations and tourists in Mexico.
Trump "is offending all of us. Imagine, that could take us to a war, not just a trade war" if Trump were elected, Fox added.
Trump's proposal to build a wall along the US-Mexico border to halt flows of unauthorized immigrants and illicit goods has received criticism from many sources on legal, economic, and security grounds, and many in Mexico have ridiculed the real-estate magnate.
Conversely some Mexicans and Mexican-Americans who have relocated to the US side of the border are supporting the Republican frontrunner, as he seems to echo their resentment of the "free stuff" to which they believe immigrants arriving in the US illegally have gained access.